The Internet said yes to the dress. And thank God, because we all needed it.

Social media can be amazing. Through it I’ve made new friends, reconnected with old ones, found work, discovered new art and more. But social media can also be atrocious, full of harassment, hate, depression and a million people posting fake Facebook disclaimers because they think it will do something to protect their privacy.

Too often it feels that when everyone on Facebook and Twitter are on the same page, all posting about the same things, it’s because of something tragic. It’s as if the entire world congregates on the Internet only during events like the Boston Marathon bombings or the unrest in Ferguson — or, heck, just to gripe about how horrible the Oscars are (even though everyone continues to watch them). Point is, lately it feels like social media is a breeding ground for negativity, rather than a communication tool that can be used for simple fun.

That wasn’t the case on Thursday thanks to a couple of llamas and a poorly photographed dress.

The runaway llamas, which ran amok in an Arizona retirement community, weren’t particularly revolutionary. Most people love animals, and there’s something novel about farm or zoo animals wandering around in the wild. We’ve certain been obsessed with such occurrences before (remember the IKEA Monkey?), but there was still something oddly charming about logging onto Twitter to see just about everybody live tweeting a llama escape as if it was the most dramatic police chase in years.

(OK, seriously, I saw the dress as white and gold thrice– very briefly each time, before my eyes “correct” to black and blue. And once I go black, I can’t go back.)

It was the best type of disagreement. Some hyperbole was thrown around and some people joked about filing for divorce over #TheDress, but in reality nobody was getting hurt or upset by this. Confused, sure. Occasionally frustrated, even. But mostly we were all amazed together.

Personally, I was fascinated by the science behind it all. As my wife posted to her own social media channels, it was “the only time Britton has been obsessed with a dress.” I had to know why the two of us were seeing something completely different. It felt like a new mystery that a bunch of us wanted to solve together.

Edward H. Adelson

The infamous Adelson checker shadow illusion.

A few wet blankets complained about dress-dominated Twitter, but for the most part I saw nothing but people having fun with the absurdity of the entire thing. Here we are with the entire Internet at our fingertips and millions of people are spending their time disagreeing about a photograph that was posted on Tumblr.

There’s still hate out there. There’s still abuse. We haven’t fixed the Internet. But it was really nice that, at least for a few hours, everybody could come together and just have idiotic fun with each other.

So I’m thankful for #llamadrama and #thedress. At least until tomorrow, when so many brands will have tweeted their own clever jokes about those things that we’ll all be incredibly sick of them.

In a nutshell, an unidentified person going by the Twitter handle @Cellla_ was hired to work at the pizza takeout place. Using PG-13-rated language, she tweeted that she was less than enthused about her new job. Reportedly, her new employer, Robert Waple, got wind of it, fired up his Twitter account (@RobertWaple) that had been dormant since 2009 and told her to not bother reporting for her first day. @Cellla_ tweeted back that she was fired because of Twitter and added three laughing emojis.

The exchange went viral Sunday and support for @Cellla_ was pouring in from followers claiming to be from China, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan, among others.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Sterling Heights, Mich.-based Jet’s America Inc., said that because the Mansfield location is an independently owned and operated franchise store, Jet’s America “cannot dictate the employment practices or decisions of independently owned and operated franchise businesses.

“Nevertheless, Jet’s regrets to see the manner in which this situation has been handled by the parties involved.”

Late Monday, just to see how things were going at Jet’s Pizza, I ordered a deep dish cheese pizza from takeout. Service was prompt and friendly. And business was extremely quiet with no sign that a viral social-media storm was raging.

Here’s the back story: Sunday afternoon, teens across the globe tweeted, retweeted and favorited a photo of #alexfromtarget, who many considered to be a handsome teen. It developed into a big Internet crush. Since Sunday, Alex was tweeted about more than 1.5 million times, according to social search company Topsy.

The CNET story says Alex Lee gave permission to have his photo taken, however Alex said via Twitter Tuesday night, “I didn’t know the pic was taken or tweeted until my store manager showed me.”

Alex also denies any involvement with Breakr, saying, “My family and I have never heard of this company.”

If CNET and the rippling media reports are right, #alexfromtarget is a social media marketing campaign gone right. And if they’re wrong: #alexfromtarget is still a social media phenomenon gone right.

Target spokesperson Molly Snyder denies any involvement with the campaign, and a company statement issued Tuesday night mirrors that sentiment. Snyder called it “truly viral event that is not a part of a Target effort” in an email to The Dallas Morning News Tuesday morning. Employees at the Target in Frisco wouldn’t say whether Alex was an employee at the store.

Alex from Target’s Twitter followers have grown to nearly 600,000 followers in a few days. Before Sunday, he told DeGeneres he had 144 Twitter followers.

Alex seemed legitimately stunned at his social media success on Ellen Tuesday. DeGeneres quickly prodded to see what could be next for this North Texas teen. “Do you sing? Do you have any other talent?” she asks. “We should take advantage of this.”

Surely you’ve met “Alex from Target” by now. (Virtually, at least.) He’s a good-looking teenager who was ev-er-y-where on Twitter on Sunday. And he might be from North Texas; a Target spokesperson wouldn’t confirm and asks that we give newly famous Alex some privacy.

So we head back to Twitter, where fans of Alex surely aren’t giving him any privacy.

In honor of no-last-name Alex, here are some of the best memes since his teenage face popped up all over the ‘net 24 hours ago.

Why are so many people looking at and talking about no-last-name Alex? He’s apparently a good-looking teenager, according to the many who have joined in on the #alexfromtarget convo. There’s even an Urban Dictionary definition already. More than 880,000 Tweets went out in the past 24 hours about Alex, the hot Target teen.

“Am I famous now?” tweeted @acl163 on Twitter Sunday evening, about six hours after the original photo hit the interwebs. Alex’s “famous” tweet (if that is, in fact, his Twitter account) has been favorited nearly 60,000 times, and memes of Alex have popped up on the Internet.

The San Antonio Express-News identifies Alex as a North Texas employee, though an operator at Super Target in Frisco would not confirm if Alex is an employee there. Target’s corporate press office wouldn’t, either.

Sunday was an especially good day for Target: “Usually our new weekly ad is what gets people tweeting on Sundays,” a spokesperson writes via email. “So imagine our surprise yesterday when one of our Target team members managed to flood the internet with images of red and khaki without even trying.

“We are proud to have a great team, including #AlexFromTarget, and are in contact with his store and family. We will keep you posted if he is available for comment, but for now, we would ask you to respect his privacy.”

If this is all a little confusing, CNN thinks so, too: If you’re “still wondering why #AlexFromTarget is trending … Please don’t ask us to explain the Internet.” Or teenagers.

UPDATE at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 3: Take a look at the top trending secondary hashtags on this story, as supplied by social media monitoring company Sysomos. Tens of thousands of people are tweeting about spinoff Internet sensations, like #KieranfromTMobile and #StevefromStarbucks.

George Takei at the Seattle Pride Parade in June. (PHOTO:) Joshua Bessex/seattlepi.com

The fabulously fabulous George Takei — known worldwide for his portrayal of Sulu on the original Star Trek series and in six Star Trek movies, and more recently for his fervent efforts in support of human rights, will speak at the University of North Texas on Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. as part of its Distinguished Lecture Series. It’ll take place in the UNT Coliseum, 600 Ave. D, Denton. Tickets are on sale now here for the amazing low price of $15.

Here’s more from UNT’s press release:

“From ages 4 to 8, Takei, a Japanese-American, was unjustly interned in two U.S. internment camps during World War II, and is an outspoken supporter of human rights issues and a community activist. The openly gay Takei served as the spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign “Coming Out Project,” and as cultural affairs chairman of the Japanese American Citizens League. In 2007, Asteroid 7307 Takei, located between Mars and Jupiter, was named in the performer’s honor.

“Takei was ranked the most influential person on Facebook by Mashable.com in 2012. He has more than 7.7 million likes on Facebook and more than 1.3 million Twitter followers. Takei authored Lions and Tigers and Bears: The Internet Strikes Back and Oh Myyy! There Goes the Internet,” which ranked No. 10 on The New York Times e-book nonfiction list.”

To satisfy all your arts and entertainment cravings, visit go.dallasnews.com for recommendations from our staff experts.

The late Norman Lebovitz used the influence of Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing Company to get what he wanted from the National Football League.

Anheuser-Busch, which brews Budweiser beer, is one of the biggest sponsors of the National Football League. It contributes upwards of $200 million a year to the league as part of its multibillion-dollar contract. But Tuesday, the boys at A-B were not happy. This is the statement they released about Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, et al, making A-B the first major advertiser to take a stand against the NFL:

“We are disappointed and increasingly concerned by the recent incidents that have overshadowed this NFL season. We are not yet satisfied with the league’s handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code. We have shared our concerns and expectations with the league.”

Ouch. So, it was not surprising that first thing Wednesday, the Minnesota Vikings announced that they would suspend (albeit with pay) superstar running back Adrian Peterson. He has been linked to child-abuse allegations in Houston.

I post this as a way of reminding readers of our Pop Culture Blog that we have been here before. Here is my post on the late Norman Lebovitz, a San Diego restaurateur who stood up to the NFL during the early 1990s when the league threatened to “scramble” its satellite television signals, making it impossible for Lebovitz (a Chicago Bears fan) and others to receive out-of-market games in their local areas. Lebovitz declared a boycott of Miller and Budweiser beers, and voila! No more scrambling. I contend that Lebovitz’s action provoked the NFL to offer sooner its highly popular and highly lucrative NFL Sunday Ticket package, which allows you to watch any game on any given Sunday.

The point of all this? When a major sponsor such as A-B voices displeasure, the NFL acts. Quickly.

Most celebrities shy away from offering their opinion onserious topics in order to not alienate their fans. Joan Rivers doesn’t play by those rules, she offers her opinion and then some. Not long after Grand Prairie’s Selena Gomez posted a message on her Instagram to “Pray for Gaza,” TMZ stops Rivers on the street to ask her opinion on Palestine/Israel conflict. When asked about her thoughts on Gomez’s post, Rivers responds with “Oh, that college grad… let’s see if she can spell Palestinian.”

Oliver confirmed the news to SI on Sunday night, the article said, noting that she will “move to the network’s No. 2 team for her 20th NFL broadcasting season. Erin Andrews has been elevated to the No. 1 sideline spot, joining the team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. Oliver’s last season working as a reporter on the NFL will be spent with the No. 2 Fox team of Kevin Burkhardt and John Lynch.”

Ms. Oliver spent the first years of her well-traveled life living in Dallas, where she was born in Parkland Hospital. Living in Arlington Park, in the shadow of Harry Hines Boulevard and Stemmons Freeway, she began her education at Arlington Park Elementary before the family moved on. One of three daughters of an Air Force technical sergeant who settled his family in Dallas during a lengthy deployment abroad, she spent a rootless childhood. Home was in Texas, Michigan, Washington, California, Florida . . .

By the time the latter years of high school rolled around, she was living in Niceville, Fla., the final outpost of a military brat.

Pam was her typically open self in reacting to the news with SI:

After a painful couple of months, Oliver said the disappointment of that news has subsided and that she has accepted her new professional reality. But it was a shock last April when Fox Sports executives traveled to Atlanta, where she is based, to tell her in person that she would no longer hold the job that has been her professional life for two decades. Oliver says that while she respected Fox Sports president Eric Shanks and executive vice president of production John Entz delivering the news in person, she was stunned when they initially informed her that not only was she being removed from Fox’s No. 1 NFL team, but also that she was being taken off the NFL sidelines completely in 2014.

“To go from the lead crew to no crew was a little shocking,” Oliver said. “I said I wanted to do a 20th year [on the sidelines]. I expressed to them that I was not done and had something to offer. Again, I think it was predetermined coming in. Not at that meeting, but two years ago it was determined that no matter what I did or did not do, a change would be made for this year.”

Here’s a fairly recent interview with Pam posted by the Wall Street Journal:

Two weeks ago, Jena Irene, who is now one of American Idol‘s top 2 finalists sang “Can’t Help Falling In Love,” a song immortalized by the one and only Elvis Presley. Last night on The Voice, another contestant, Christina Grimmie sang the same song. Because, you know there are not enough songs out there.

Both Jena and Christina are in my opinion some of the best contestants that the shows had this season. Jena was a top contender early on with her rendition of Radiohead’s Creep. While on The Voice, Christina turned around songs by Drake and Lil Wayne and it was impressive.

Tonight as Jena Irene sang “Can’t Help Falling in Love” again, Idol judge Keith Urban didn’t miss the chance to tell her that her rendition was so good that she inspired a contestant on another show to sing it too. Burn!

Hansenmania took another turn this week when something called The Parody Factory put up Dale’s refreshingly outspoken video commentary, albeit with a myriad of cleverly crafted twists and turns, turning it into a Hansen-written song called “Part of Mine.” Dale Hansen as Internet rock star? The Jackson Browne of cyberspace? Hey, why not? Maybe “Part of Mine” will soon eclipse Rebecca Black singing “Friday.” Remember that one, and the gazillion hits it got on YouTube? WFAA itself joined in on the fun Wednesday, posting “Part of Mine” on its own Web site. The Ticket, the bellwether of sports talk radio in Dallas, played part of “Part of Mine” to lead into the Norm Hitzges show earlier today.

Mae Whitman from NBC's Parenthood is part of the "streaming" experiment.

All of us know by now the dramatic effect the Internet has heaped upon the newspaper industry, the music business, the book publishing world and even radio. Television, they say, may be the next big domino to fall, with the Internet changing the way we watch it. In other words, will it forever alter the future of major networks, local channels, cable and satellite?

Who knows, but change is already rapidly taking shape in ways many of us never expected. Entire series are now being shown on Netflix (House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black) and via such destinations as Hulu and YouTube. Jerry Seinfeld gave us a glimpse of his new series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, which you can watch right here.

Then came Monday’s announcement that NBC will offer, as an escape from the Olympics, four of its most popular prime-time series, Chicago Fire, Parks and Recreation, Grimm and Parenthood, in a digital-only format, to be “streamed” on NBC.com, Hulu and YouTube. Long gone are the days when my dad and I would spend hours installing a cheap metal antenna on the roof of our house in Pleasant Grove. This is the official announcement, which appeared on something called Deadline.com. Pretty soon, you won’t even need a television set. A smart phone or tablet should do the job.

As I understand it, these digital episodes will not be part of the normal narrative of the series as seen on the network, which is interesting in and of itself. This is part of what appeared on Deadline.com:

The four-part “Chicago Fire” digital series, “I Am A Firefighter,” focuses on Dawson (Monica Raymond) while she awaits the next phase of her firefighter training, as seen in recent episodes. While alone at the station, Dawson is faced with an emergency that puts her training and confidence to the ultimate test. The digital series directed by Joe Chappelle and written by Ryan Harris — will debut Tuesday, Feb. 11.

“Parenthood’s” digital series is titled “Friday Night at the Luncheonette.” Amber (Mae Whitman) is tasked with keeping an eye on her cousin Max (Max Burkholder), while also working after hours at the Luncheonette. When the band Crucifictorious shows up, Amber desperately tries to keep things under control while Max documents events with his phone. Guest stars Jesse Plemons and Derek Phillips reprise their “Friday Night Lights” roles of Landry Clarke and Billy Riggins, respectively. The four-part digital series debuts Thursday, Feb. 13. The “Parenthood” webisodes were written by Julia Cox (part 1), Monica Mitchell (part 2), Aaron Brownstein & Simon Ganz (part 3) and Adam Karp (part 4). Parts 1 and 2 were directed by Eric Tignini and parts 3 and 4 directed by Scott Schaeffer.

On the digital series for “Grimm,” Rosalee (Bree Turner) and Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) gather their girlfriends for a Valentine’s Day spa party, only to discover a Zieglevolk casting a love spell among the group. The four-part digital series, titled “Love is in the Air,” directed by Chip Touhey and written by Nick Peet, debuts Friday, Feb. 14.

In this story, on tvline.com, NBC officials reveal that in its “digital companion series,” Parenthood will welcome in alumni from the now-defunct series Friday Night Lights, which, of course, was based on the non-fiction book by Buzz Bissinger about high school football in Odessa, Texas.

This is part of the tvline.com story: “NBC announced on Monday that Parenthood’s four-part digital companion series, ‘Friday Night at the Luncheonette,’ will follow Amber [Mae Whitman] as she keeps an eye on her cousin Max [Max Burkholder] while working after hours at the recording studio. During Amber’s odyssey, Jesse Plemons and Derek Phillips will reprise their FNL roles of Landry Clarke and Billy Riggins, respectively, when the band Crucifictorious shows up to jam.”

We live in an age of surveillance. We are photographed and videotaped even as we pass through a traffic light, let alone make a deposit at a teller window or buy a pack of gum at a convenience store. If you’re a public figure, the presence of a camera is even more invasive, as it is for Marina Porter, the widow of accused presidential assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Can you believe The Voice still hasn’t reached the live rounds? Talk about making a season last forever. In the words of Sweet Brown, “Ain’t nobody got time for that.” But apparently someone does, because even though the ratings have faltered a bit there are still plenty of people watching.

As for Dallas-area contestants, three contestants with North Texas ties got to compete on the knockout rounds this week. On this round, two contestants from each team sing different songs, and the coach of that team picks only one to move on. Kinda like the battle rounds but they don’t sing together on this one.

Arlington’s Brandon Chase sang “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” and while it wasn’t the most amazing performance ever, I still enjoyed it more than Austin Jenckes’ rendition of “I’ll Be.” I’ve seen “I’ll Be” performed many times on reality competitions, and for me no one has ever come close to Bo Bice’s rendition on American Idol season four. While both of them were pitchy, it seems Austin’s back story gave him the edge, as he was declared the winner, leaving our guy out of the competition. Whomp, whomp.

In reality singing competitions there are usually performers with amazing voices who have absolutely no charisma or entertainment value. Many times there are others who may not have Celine Dion pipes but who are a pleasure to see simply because they are… not boring. That’s where Nic Hawk fits. He’s a character, a performer with a theater background who doesn’t seem to be afraid to take some risks on a reality show. Case in point, this week he performed a very amusing rendition of Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle.” His contender was Holly Henry who sang Radiohead’s “Creep” and while she had a better voice, it just wasn’t all that. It didn’t help that the last words she sang were “I don’t belong here.” Being more interesting and entertaining gave Nic the edge on this battle and Blake Shelton decided to keep him instead of Holly.

Will Nic go far? We’ll have to see how the public reacts to his personality when the voting rounds start, which should be happening sometime before the year ends.

The third contestant is Tamara Chauniece, who was a student at the University of North Texas and is part of Cee Lo’s team. Tamara, who’s from tiny Wortham, Texas, performed a reggae-infused version of Alicia Keys’ “No One” against Stephanie Ann Johnson’s rendition of Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why.” Cee Lo chose Tamara because in all honesty, she nailed the performance. It wasn’t all bad news for her contender, who was quickly chosen by Christina to be part of her team.

Texas-bred Jeff Bezos, the founder of amazon.com, has bought The Washington Post for a reported $250 million

During the summer before my senior year in college, I got to do what seemingly every college journalist in the country wanted to do: I was named one of 19 summer interns to work at The Washington Post during the so-called Watergate summer of 1973. It was, to say the least, interesting to sit in the same newsroom as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, not to mention the terrific Post editor, Benjamin Bradlee. I was in the sports department, which had its own share of luminaries, such as Thomas Boswell, George Solomon (who later became sports editor) and the late great Shirley Povich. It had to have been the finest hour of any American newspaper, and I am not talking about the stories I did on rowing. As you know, the newspaper’s coverage of the Watergate scandal led to nationally televised congressional hearings and, ultimately, to President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974.

Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford in the movie version of the Post coverage of the Watergate scandal.

I’m sure you also remember that the Post coverage of the Watergate story would soon become a movie starring Robert Redford as Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein, thus placing the Post in the annals of journalism folklore forever. So, imagine my surprise today, when we learned that the Post is being sold for a reported $250 million to Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of amazon.com and a guy with Texas ties. He also has the most incredible laugh of anyone I’ve ever met. Back in 1999, I flew to Seattle to profile Bezos for The Dallas Morning News.

He was born in Albuquerque, N.M., to a mother who was 17. (His biological father is a subject he won’t discuss, saying he’s never met the man.) In April 1968, when Jeff was 4, his mother, Jacklyn Gise, married Miguel Bezos, according to court records in Bernalillo County, N.M. A divorcee, she chose as her new husband a Cuban exile who, without his parents, fled Castro’s regime as a teenager.

Miguel Bezos adopted her toddler son and moved the family to Houston, where he got a job as a petroleum engineer, beginning a 30-year partnership with Exxon. His adopted son credits much of his gumption and sense of survival to the only man he’ll ever call “Dad.”

In Houston, Jeff advanced from kindergarten to the Vanguard magnet program at River Oaks Elementary School. As a fourth-grader, he figured out what none of his teachers could: He signed on to a primitive terminal, which, through a time-sharing process, was attached to a main-frame computer downtown.

He taught his friends how to use it and spent hours after school playing Star Trek, long before Nintendo or video games had crossed the paths of American children.

He also built an Infinity Cube, which used a set of mirrors to allow one to stare into “infinity.” The story of young Jeff and his Infinity Cube is documented in Turning on Bright Minds: A Parent Looks at Gifted Education in Texas, which was published in the Houston area in 1977. Written by Julie Ray, the book follows 12-year-old Jeff (renamed Tim) through a typical day in school.

The author describes him as “friendly but serious,” even “courtly” and possessed of “general intellectual excellence,” though, according to teachers, “not particularly gifted in leadership.”

And a bit more from my profile:

Many of Jeff Bezos’ earliest lessons in character were honed on a cattle ranch in Cotulla, Texas, where his maternal grandparents, Lawrence Preston Gise and Mattie Strait Gise, played host to the grandchildren for 10 hot summers.

A bit of Texas-Bezos trivia: Jeff’s late grandmother and country singer George Strait were related, meaning Mr. Strait and Mr. Bezos are cousins. While Jeff and his siblings may not sing like Mr. Strait, they did prove they could work.

In Cotulla, it was hardly movies and candy. Their regular routine included everything from vaccinating the cattle to branding to castrations.

“You did castrations?” a visitor asks.

“Oh, sure,” Jeff says. “AHA HA HA HA HA HA!!!”

It also included fixing windmills and repairing farm equipment, such as a giant bulldozer whose transmission he removed by constructing a small crane. He built a barn. He took cattle to auction. He learned his grandfather’s work ethic and somehow survived the heat.

“We’d take off the hottest hours of the day and go to the ranch house to watch Days of Our Lives. “Like sands through an hourglass . . . are the days of our lives,’ ” he says, laughing again. “You definitely don’t want to be outside in Cotulla, Texas, in the summer from 1 to 4 in the afternoon. I spent 10 summers there. But 10 summers in 107-degree heat count double.”

GuideLive is giving away Premier Access to the opening night of The Book of Mormon on August 21st at the Winspear Opera House.

What does Premier Access include? We’re glad you ask! Our four lucky winners will receive:◘ Two tickets to see The Book of Mormon in a semi-private suite◘ Dinner for two at the Center Circle Supper Club◘ Valet Parking voucher

Enter today for your chance to win this Premier Access experience to this sold out show! Contest ends Wednesday August 14th at 11:59 p.m. and winners will be announced on August 15th.

The first time around, the fam and I missed Sharknado. When Syfy repeats Sharknado for a prime-time encore Thursday, we’ll have our Twitter apps at the ready. And along with thousands of other viewers, we’ll be cracking wise about a movie that examines what happens when shark-filled tornadoes drop their payloads all over the Los Angeles area.

Could it really happen? Who cares? The real question: Will Syfy be able to repeat its social-media success? That’s what programming bigwigs will be monitoring.

In its first showing last Thursday, Sharknado created a tweet frenzy, drawing more than 5,000 per minute, according to Trendrr. It wasn’t on the scale of major TV events such as Super Bowl XLVII or the 85th Academy Awards, but it was significant.

At the time, my wife and I were live tweeting to Turner Classic Movies’ marathon homage to visual-effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen. That is, until Facebook friends promptly alerted us to Sharknado.

We jumped in at midstream and while our tweets to #Sharknado were getting lost in the avalanche, it was OMG fun.

As @pattonoswalt tweeted it: “No way is SHARKNADO as entertaining as the Tweets about it. Congrats, @SyfyTV. You’ve created a new way to watch movies.”

Andrew Somosi, CEO of SocialGuide, which generates the Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings, said Sharknado was a “pretty compelling way for Syfy to create a lot of momentum.”
Is it possible more made-for-social media programming could develop?

Somosi said data gleaned from programming will determine further projects because “this is, at some level, a unique phenomenon.”

Thomas Vitale, Syfy’s executive vice president programming and original movies, told The Hollywood Reporter that it remains to be seen “whether or not you can design a show that would get this kind of buzz on a week in and week out basis.”

Paula Guthat from Detroit, Mich., who tweets as @TCM_Party, is ready for more. She said “TV networks can’t afford ignore the buzz social media generates, particularly on Twitter.”

My wife searches for iconic or cheesy movies – most on the Turner Classic Movies channel — that we can tweet together live as a family. When’s the last time you searched the DVR for something you could watch live?

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks about the new iOS 7 during the keynote address of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference Monday, June 10, 2013, in San Francisco.

The Worldwide Developers Conference started with Apple’s CEO Tim Cook giving us a the usual review of the growth the company has experienced. He says that “the Mac install base is at 72 million, which is double what it was 5 years ago”. And after a good amount of number and data and all that we get to the good stuff. Let’s see some of the most notable announcements.

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Craig Federighi, vice president of Software Engineering at Apple Inc., speaks during the keynote of the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Monday, June 10, 2013.

New Operating System for Mac:OSX Mavericks which includes the ability to have tabs on Finder and also lets you tag documents, files and photos, etc. The new operating system also add multiple display support, which was lacking in previous iterations of the system and it will allow different full-screen apps to show on different displays. As part of the update, Safari also gets a revamp in speed and features like “shared links” which will show you in-browser what people you follow have shared. The update also brings speed, energy and memory consumption improvements. The Calendar application has also seen some changes including direct interaction with the new Maps application bringing you projected weather for locations and travel time, plus you can send directions from the Maps app on your Mac to your iOS device. Developers will get early access to OSX Mavericks today, and it will be available for the general public in the fall.

New MacBook Airs: The slimmest Mac line will be getting a full revamp starting with all-day battery life(12 hours). It also has a new processor, Intel’s Haswell, which has up to 40% faster graphics and 30 days of standby. The new Macbook airs will start at $999 for the 11 inch, 128gb model up to $1299 for the 13 inch, 256gb model. Shipping on these starts today.

AP

Phil Schiller the senior vice president of worldwide marketing at Apple introduces the new Mac Pro (right) during the keynote address of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference Monday, June 10, 2013 in San Francisco.

New Mac Pro: The powerhouse of Apple computers gets a new look that is 1/8 of the volume of the previous generation and a completely different look, which actually looks like a fancy thermos. It has 4 USB slots, 6 Thunderbolt 2 slots, and supports up to three 4K displays at a time.

iWork in iCloud: Apple will be releasing a version of iWork, their version of Microsoft Office, that will work completely from the cloud, which will allow you to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations from anywhere you have an internet connection. And surprise! it will work on Internet Explorer, Chrome and obviously Safari.

Apple.com

Screenshots of Apple's iOS 7.

New operating System for iPhone and iPad:iOS 7 is coming in the fall! According to Cook, the new iOS is “the biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone”. As rumored for months, the new iOS shows a flat design that looks very different to what we have seen before. There is a lot of translucency and layers throughout the operating system which gives it sort of a 3D look.

Apple.com

Screenshots of Apple's iOS 7.

Here are some of the updates coming iniOS 7:

• Animated lock screens and wallpaper.

• Swipe between apps.

• Parallax effect that allows you to see behind the icons.

• No more green felt on Game Center.

• Redesigned Weather App with live animations.

• Multiple pages within folders.

• Dots instead of cellphone signal bars.

• Swipe from bottom to top to have access to settings, brightness, media control, airplane mode and yes, a native flashlight app.

• New look for Safari’s interface including no limits for tabs and swipe through tabs like a carousel.

• Multitasking is now available for all apps and while doing it you can see what the app looks like inside instead of just its icon.

• Airdrop, a new quick way on iOS to share with multiple people.

• The Photos app now comes with its own filters and your photos can be organized into moments and easily shared.

• Siri is getting smarter(again) and has a more natural voice which you can choose between a female or male voice.

• iOS in the Car will let you make phone calls, listen to music and access maps all from your car with Siri. This will be useful with many 2014 car models that will be coming with this integration.

• Apps now update on the background without having to go and click update on the App Store.

• iTunes Radio, a streaming music service that is built directly into the Music app. It is free with ads, or ad-kess if you are an iTunes Match subscriber.

Poor Justin Bieber has been having a rough time. First, he was slammed for bringing his pet monkey, Mally, to Germany where the animal was put in quarantine because he failed to bring the necessary documentation. Now he’s being attacked on Facebook and in the press for an entry he wrote in a guestbook at the Anne Frank House museum in Amsterdam Friday night:

Anne Frank

Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber.”

Personally, after reading what the 19-year-old Canadian pop star wrote, all I have to say is: Don’t you think you’re being a little bit hard on the Bieber?

Bieber, who will be performing July 3 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, should be commended for going to the Anne Frank House. That’s what museum spokeswoman Maatje Mostart said to the Associated Press, noting that the museum was happy to give him a guided tour at his request and didn’t see anything offensive in his remarks.

Sure, his wording may seem self-serving. But the worst thing you can do to for our dead is to forget them. Bieber honored Anne’s memory by his visit and by imagining her life in a modern context instead of leaving her in an enshrined and untouchable past.

Anne became the face of the Holocaust when her diary of hiding out from the Nazis with her family was published after her death. She died at age 15 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, roughly a month before the camp was liberated. It is important to remember that she brought home the horror of the genocide that took the lives of millions because so many could relate to the longings she described.

She was wise beyond her years, writing unforgettable lines in the midst of unimaginable horror such as “In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” At the same time, she was a teen like so many others who loved movie stars, dancers and royalty and used a paste pot to plaster their pictures on her wall.

“This makes it look much more cheerful,” she wrote happily, offering “thanks to Daddy” who brought her film-star collection and picture postcards to their hiding place.

She brought the tragedy home because parents felt that this could have been their child; kids felt that she could have been them.

Would she have been a Belieber? Who knows? If Bieber had been one of the stars of her day, she may have been. If imagining her as a fellow Belieber helps another teen find her connection with Anne Frank, that’s not just a good thing, that’s a great thing.

So thank you, Justin Bieber. We’re looking forward to seeing you in Dallas. It would be very cool if you visit the Dallas Holocaust Museum-Center for Education and Tolerance while you’re here.